Green light for green ideas

2009/08/29

Finalists of the recent i-Challenge 2009 I-Care for the Environment competition engaged actively with their schools and community to come up with compelling ideas

WHEN the world runs out of ideas to save the environment from degradation and waste, students may well be the ones to show the way.

Recycling air-conditioner water, creating eco-gardens, cleaning up the beach and making one’s own recycled paper were some of the compelling ideas put forth by finalists of the recent fifth i-Challenge 2009 I-Care for the Environment competition held at INTI College Subang Jaya, Selangor.

The challenge was aimed at promoting and instilling social responsibility in students, and providing them an opportunity to contribute to the betterment of society and the environment.

It served as a platform for them to think and act creatively. Participants were expected to cultivate a positive, innovative and creative attitude while having fun.

After beating some 100 teams at a variety of mental and physical challenges held in the preliminaries, nine finalists were given a month to plan and execute activities to address environmental issues.

SMK La Salle, Klang students present their I-Care idea

The finalists — SMK St Francis, Malacca; Foon Yew High School, Johor Baru; Chong Hwa High School, Kluang; SMK Seafield, Subang Jaya; SMK USJ 8, Subang Jaya; SMK La Salle, Klang (two teams); and SMJK Chung Hwa, Klang (two teams) — were also required to, among others, document their activities for the entire month, petition supporters and engage their school or community in their efforts.

The Green and Blue teams from SMK La Salle, Klang swept first and second places respectively.

They won RM15,000 worth of funding for their I-Care ideas, a laptop, an LCD projector, RM100,000 worth of scholarships, book vouchers, cash and prizes in kind.

The Green team had not only set up their own recycling centre but also conducted awareness outreach programmes, which included visits to recycling plants, talks aimed at peers and primary school pupils and a “paper recycling made easy” session.

The Blue team, on the other hand, built an eco-garden — which used water channelled from the school’s air-conditioners — from scratch.

The ingenuity of the idea led to widespread support from their peers and parents, with many plants being donated to the eco-garden.

INTI Education Group deputy chief executive officer Graham Doxey congratulated the winning teams for being the “first among equals”.

“Today, there are no losers among us. Everyone won — the schools, the teams and the community won. We hope everyone has learned something from the experience,” he adds.

SMK La Salle, Klang principal Lily Lee says: “The i-Challenge has raised public awareness of the need to protect the environment. It was a wonderful experience for our students.”

Foon Yew High School’s team finished third and won RM3,000 for its I-Care project, RM20,000 worth of scholarships, book vouchers, cash and prizes in kind.

SMK La Salle, Klang students demonstrate the impact of deforestation

The team sold recycled items and donated the money to underprivileged students.

It also organised a beach clean-up, created an organic garden and raised environmental awareness in its school through exhibitions.